Experts disagree over recent report on Himalayan glaciers

By Gaurav Sharma
13 Nov 2009

The recent findings on Himalayan glaciers which did not find the melting of glaciers alarming enough were not unreliable, said Himanshu Thakkar, Director South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP). Thakkar alleged that the latest report, released by the environment ministry, is based on study of only 10-20 selected glaciers out of total 9575 Himalayan glaciers within India.

He was speaking at a seminar on 'Himalayan Glaciers and Mekong Basin', organized by Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre, SANDRP and Water Watch Alliance. Thakkar said that several hydropower projects in Himalayan region are contributing to the melting of glaciers and severely affecting the environment. He was also critical of govt approval to few hydropower projects in close proximity to glaciers.

However, Professor A. L. Ramnathan from School of Environmental Sciences, JNU said that the melting of Himalayan glaciers was not abnormal. "There is no need to make mountain out of a mole hill as retreat of Himalayan glaciers is a natural process", he said. "Climate change is not the only factor which leads to the retreat of glaciers. There are several other factors which also contribute to the melting."

Citing data available to him, Ramnathan informed that the rate of retreat of Himalayan glaciers had gone down since 1998.

Professor Milap Chand Sharma, also from JNU, said that nature behaves in unpredictable ways and it is wrong to conclude that warming alone was responsible for climate change. "While we are concerned about warming, my village in Himachal Pradesh witnessed snowfall in September this year after 55 years", he said.

Responding to a participant's query, Professor Sharma said that the West might have a hidden agenda behind raising its concerns on global warming. "In the energy driven world one needs natural resources to harness the energy and when southern block is doing that West has certain reservations about it", he commented.

Laying emphasis on the need for increased public participation in the data collection and policy making on environmentally sensitive projects, Thakkar said "We need more transparency in the system by involving local people in the decision making process. The government is not inclined to share information with public. It's is an uphill task to access the data of rainfall, let alone hydrology data".

Professor Swaran Singh, who chaired the session concluded by saying that, "We can have alternative source of energy but not of water. Even if glaciers are receding at slow rate we must take it seriously. Our population has multiplied but sources have not". Earlier, Tibetan researcher Dhondup Dolma highlighted the threat to glaciers in Tibetan region and warned about drying up of wetlands and desertification of several places, including near Mt Kailash, in Tibetan plateau.